This is my second veganized version of the manicotti that I grew up eating. Eric said this is the best manicotti I’ve ever made! This goes together pretty quickly. The cashews don’t need to soak for very long and the tofu can drain while you’re mincing veggies.

**NOTE: If you prefer, use part of a second jar of spaghetti sauce OR use tomato sauce instead of the diced tomatoes/water. I used the diced tomatoes because that’s what I had in the house, and I realized that I should have bought 2 jars of spaghetti sauce. The idea is to have enough sauce to fully cover the noodles during baking. You won’t need 2 full jars of sauce, but 1 jar won’t be enough. HISTORY: Back in the 1980’s, when my mom used to make manicotti, the spaghetti sauce jars were a lot bigger. I think they used to be 32 ounces. Over time, the price stayed the same, while the jars got smaller and smaller. The food companies think people don’t notice, but some of us do!!

3. Place your drained, mashed tofu in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

4. In a saute pan on medium heat, sizzle the oil, onions, carrots, and garlic. Remove it from the heat and stir in the parsley, Italian seasoning blend, basil, and garlic powder. Add all of it to the mixing bowl. Stir.

5. In a Vitamix blender, whiz up the cashews, soaking water, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper. Pour into the mixing bowl. Stir.

Mashed tofu with veggies/herbs and cashew sauce

6. In a small bowl, drizzle the balsamic vinegar over the chopped Field Roast Italian sausages, and stir. Add them to the mixing bowl.

9. Pour enough spaghetti sauce into the bottom of the glass baking pan to coat the bottom. Stuff the noodles with the yummy mixture and line the noodles up in the pan. (I didn’t end up using the last 2 noodles.)

10. Pour the rest of the spaghetti sauce and the pureed tomatoes/water into the bowl that had the stuffing mixture. Stir.

Spaghetti sauce and pureed tomatoes/water

11. Pour the sauce blend over the noodles and then make sure each stuffed noodle is fully surrounded by sauce.

Vegan manicotti, before baking

12. Bake at 400 degrees, covered with foil, for 45 minutes.

13. Remove foil, turn off the oven, and leave in the oven for another 10 minutes. If desired, during this time, sprinkle extra vegan cheese shreds on top.

14. Remove from oven and let sit for another 10 minutes before serving.

I call this recipe Cabbage Roll Casserole because I don’t make actual cabbage rolls. I think it’s simpler this way, and I’m all about making things as simple as possible!

Please note that this recipe is designed to give you a freezer supply of Cabbage Roll Casserole fixings for several meals (i.e. 5+). The idea is that you make the Cabbage Roll Sauce and the Cabbage Roll Filling ahead of time, then freeze portions until you’re ready to buy some cabbage and put it all together.

Don’t let the initial work scare you off because this is super yummy and it makes a lot!

Once you have your first batch of sauce and filling made, you’ll find that you won’t run out of both at the same time. That’s because the sauce recipe makes enough for 8 portions and the filling recipe makes enough for 5 portions. So, in the future, you’ll only have to make one or the other to keep your freezer stocked. (Each portion serves 2 adults in my house.)

I do recommend that you have a basic coffee grinder for grinding the fennel. My Mr. Coffee grinder is dedicated to grinding spices. To clean the grinder, I use a dry brush to clean the base/around the blade and I wash the lid with soap and dish detergent.

I combine all the spices in the grinder, not just the fennel (for the filling). I think it helps the uniformity of the grind when you have more volume. The aroma of the fennel-sage-oregano-thyme combination is incredible!